Saturday, July 21, 2007

So, about a week and a half ago, I fished my sewing machine out of the throwaway room and decided to start making cute summer stuff since I'm broke. True to my hoarding behavior, I made several trips to fabric stores and have amassed quite a fabric stash. Of course, my laziness and my inability to finish things will not allow me to complete each and every project I have planned for these gorgeous fabrics, but a girl can dream ... and plan ... and draft with the good-natured intention of actually doing all this work.

Since you may never see finished projects, I thought I'd at least share the materials and plans with you.

1. I saw this gorgeous Martin Margiela skirt on sale at aloha rag the other day and immediately decided that I wanted it.

I almost simultaneously decided that I didn't want to pay 400 bucks for it, so I set out to Vogue Fabrics (that place is like crack, so hard to walk out without spending your life [no offense to those struggling with actual crack addiction]) to find suitable fabrics with which to emulate the look. What I found was pretty cute, and I can't wait to make it.

Next up is a journey through my obsession with loud, colorful "African-inspired" prints.

2.

These (the yellow-based prints, exclude the green one) I hope to turn into a cute halter dress, as shown in this cute little Vogue pattern:

I've actually made some progress on this one, so it will probably be worn. We'll see.

3. The next combo will also be a dress, probably of the strapless variety. Since I'm lazy and get frustrated easily, I'm thinking something super simple, like this (the yellow, strapless one):

This will be the fabric; hopefully, they're not too busy. (I may use a bit of black to break the patterns up.)

And finally a few simple straight skirts. I saw this one:

at Nuvany Nice (great blog and shopping site, check it out), and decided to make a few of these since they're simple, cute, and can be made without a pattern. Mine, of course, will be much longer, probably knee length. My fabrics:

4.

5.

6.

So that's six projects to complete before summer (assuming that I'd like to wear them anytime soon). Barring death, I'm really gonna try to complete these. We'll see.

Thursday, July 19, 2007

Since becoming obsessed with knitting, I've bought a zillion books, one of which was this one:

It's by Teva Durham. One of the projects in this book kept beckoning to me saying, "make me, make me." So, after much procrastination and dilly dallying, I finally made it. This is the original:

And this is mine!

It started as this:

And progressed to this:

Then finally became an actual garment, and it only took two days. I'm making another in pink and gray. Stay tuned for pictures.

I recommend the hell out of this pattern and book. I made the small/medium, and though the book states that the finished chest measurement would be 28 3/4", you must keep in mind that it stretches by virtue of being knit on 15" circular needles. The instructions were very clear (unlike those in Twinkle's Big City Knits [see Knitting The Pain Away]) and is super suitable for beginners. You're essentially just knitting in the round and making a few increases (knitting into the front and back of a stitch). The only marginally unsure moment was when I had to cast on stitches at the end of the row using a single loop method. I figured it out in no time despite having never done it. Trust me, this pattern is gold.